AGAWAM - Hamdpen District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni has criticized Agawam police for giving former police officer Danielle Petrangelo what he described as preferential treatment following a vehicle incident that he said should have resulted in her being charged with drunken driving and operating to endanger.

Mastroianni, in a letter to Lt. Richard Light, dated Oct. 24, 2012, mentions a June 29 incident in which Petrangelo was alleged to have been driving the wrong way on Route 5. She was off-duty at the time, according to the letter. Light was serving as acting police chief at that time.

Damage to the vehicle’s front-end indicated that she had likely struck a guard rail some time before, according to the letter.

No charges were filed against Petrangelo.

“The failure of investigators to arrest or issue a citation for criminal motor vehicle infractions at the scene is inexplicable based upon the facts included in the report of Lt. [Eric] Gillis,” Mastroianni wrote. “Public safety and public trust were each compromised by the actions of officer Petrangelo and the response of Agawam police to the situation. A reasonable conclusion from these circumstances suggests officer Petrangelo received preferential treatment from the Agawam Police Department based on her status as a police officer.”